


Birthday Invitation

by Millie_Jean



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: D&D, Fluff, Just a dash of angst, Like a lot of D&D mentions, M/M, Mutual Pining, lots of bantering, post-dsod, quite a lot of swearing, what even is tagging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:20:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29298057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Millie_Jean/pseuds/Millie_Jean
Summary: It's the third year in a row Yuugi invites Kaiba and Mokuba to his birthday. Kaiba doesn't have a good assistance record.However, this year will include a D&D one-shot aside from the usual gaming night and Kaiba hasn't played in years, so he figures he can go this time.The fact that Atem will be there is merely consequential and has absolutely nothing to do with his decision to assist. Really.
Relationships: Atem/Kaiba Seto, Kaiba Seto/Yami Yuugi
Comments: 10
Kudos: 23
Collections: Dark Valentines of Dimensions 2021





	Birthday Invitation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cuilchan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cuilchan/gifts).



> Hi Cuilchan! I hope you like this!!!
> 
> I, uh, went just a tiny little bit overboard… I didn’t even manage to keep it to 7.5K so that I could make the very funny and hilarious joke that a BEWD wasn’t enough so I had to summon the Ultimate too (Kaiba would approve). Oops I did it anyway. So I... summoned Kuriboh after that? Just for the Pride Aesthetic.
> 
> ANYWAYS, unfunny and way too elaborated jokes aside, some clarifications:
> 
> -As the tags state, there is a lot of D&D content here. I hope that’s not an obstacle? I wanted to make it so anyone who hasn’t played D&D could enjoy it anyways, but feel free to ask me anything about it!
> 
> -I’m using manga canon here. So, the first RPG with Bakura happened and Kaiba wasn’t there in Memory World nor in the Ceremonial Duel
> 
> -Judai (GX’s main character) is here. Why? Because I love him, and canon states that he’s 15 when Yuugi is 28, so when Yuugi turns 20 (as he does in this fic), Judai should be about 7 years old, therefore I’m allowed to include him (according to me). Besides, there’s this wonderful AU that drawing-cookie came up with in which GX characters who need to be adopted are adopted by DM characters (in cookie’s AU Yuugi and Kaiba are Judai’s parents but I took the liberty to make literally everyone adopt him)
> 
> -Speaking of self indulgent shit that I allowed myself! I used the Japanese honorifics (-kun, -chan, -san, etc) and tried to stick to what the characters say in the DM anime (luckily for me, neither Kaiba nor Atem use honorifics, so I hopefully didn’t embarrass myself too much by getting them wrong). I also refer to The Gang as “the Yuugi-tachi” because it’s a term that I find extremely useful and funny, and I thought it fitted well within the story.
> 
> Without further ado, enjoy this 7.8K monstrosity!

**_Birthday invitation_ **

_From:_ [ _mutouyuugi@gmail.com_ ](mailto:mutouyuugi@gmail.com)

_Hello Kaiba-kun! I hope you’re doing well._

_As you know, next Thursday (June 4 th) is my birthday. I’ll do the usual gaming night at my house on Friday the 7th at 6 pm. I hope you can come!_

_However, this time I need your confirmation, because we’re doing a Dungeons & Dragons one-shot. So I need you to tell me if you can come, and if so, if you’re playing. I don’t know if you know D&D, I assume you do, but if you don’t, it’s a tabletop role-playing game where you control a character, you make choices based on the situation that the Game Master narrates, and you usually have to roll dice in order to decide whether you succeed or fail in doing what you want to do._

_Before you ask, yes, everyone is invited: Anzu, Bakura-kun, Honda-kun, Jounouchi-kun, Mai-san, Shizuka-chan, Otogi-kun and the Ishtar siblings. I don’t think neither Mai-san nor the Ishtars will come; they probably won’t be in Domino. And of course Mokuba-kun is invited, but I sent him an e-mail as well, so you probably know that by now. Oh, and Atem will obviously be here, but then again, you probably already knew that._

_Anyways, I hope you can come! If I don’t receive a reply by Sunday I’ll assume that you won’t be participating on the one-shot (I’m sorry, but these things require a lot of planning!). In case that happens you’re of course still invited to the party!_

_Yuugi_

Kaiba stared at his screen for a few seconds after he finished reading. He had been checking his work e-mails and Yuugi’s had popped out in the middle of them.

He had been so absorbed with work lately that he wasn’t really aware of the date. Turns out, it was late May, and Yuugi’s birthday was indeed approaching.

Ever since the year when the Yuugi-tachi graduated, the same year when all that Diva and Plana stuff happened, and when he first went to visit Atem, Yuugi always invited him and Mokuba to his birthday. Mokuba always went, of course.

Kaiba, on the other hand…

The first time Yuugi invited them, Kaiba was on Aaru visiting Atem. So, yeah, he didn’t go.

The next year, he drove Mokuba to Yuugi’s house but didn’t stay because he was busy and had a lot of work to do. Once he had finished, he’d texted Mokuba asking if he had already left or if he should go pick him up; Mokuba had answered that the night was still young and that the party would probably go on for a couple more hours. Somehow he had managed to convince Kaiba to go, even if it was late. On their way back, Kaiba had to admit, after Mokuba’s relentless insistence, that he had a decent time and made his little brother swear that he would never divulge the secret to the Yuugi-tachi.

Last year he had been way too busy and couldn’t even drive Mokuba to Yuugi’s house, nor pick him up and had asked Isono to do so. When Mokuba came back from the party, Kaiba was still working; Mokuba had sneaked up on him and with a cardboard made megaphone, shouted very loudly in his ear that he should go to sleep. Kaiba had agreed, on the condition that Mokuba had to bring him some ice for his hip, which he had hit when he fell from the chair he was working in.

Yuugi’s insistence for a confirmation was understandable; his record wasn’t the cleanest one.

So, this year was a gaming night but with D&D. He scoffed while rereading the line where Yuugi explained him what D&D was in case he didn’t know. He then looked up from his computer’s screen to his library and rested his chin on intertwined fingers. He immediately found what he was looking for: the worn out copies of the Player’s Handbook and the Dungeon Master’s Guide. He glanced at his screen again, and checked how many e-mails remained unread, and therefore unanswered.

78\. Only two digits.

He pondered on leaving them for later and making his character sheet right now, like he wanted to, but ended up deciding against it. He could spend all the time he wanted once he finished reading and answering e-mails. His work day was supposed to be over about an hour and a half ago, but he usually ended up checking his e-mails on his home office, since he rarely had time to do so while he was at KC HQ.

Once he finished, he got up from his chair and grabbed the Player’s Handbook. He couldn’t help smiling a little bit, staring at the cover. It had been a while.

His father had given him the two books as a gift for his 8th birthday, the last he could celebrate with him. They used to belong to his parents, who had used them countless times, since they really liked playing. His father had noticed that he was growing to be as much as a game lover as they were, and decided that it was time to pass on the books to a younger generation.

Not long after that, his father passed away and he and Mokuba ended up on the orphanage. The two books were one of the few things he got to keep after their relatives used up all of their inheritance. He took it upon himself to evangelize D&D at the orphanage, teaching as many kids as possible how to play, and DMimg countless campaigns. Every time he got to the second to last page of the section on Magic Items and saw the coffee stain his father had caused while juggling breakfast, helping Mokuba find his favorite pencil and explaining him how to create scrolls, his lips would twitch slightly upwards, sometimes against his will.

Once he was adopted by Gozaburo, he managed to keep them, disguising them as study books. Whenever he could, he tried imagining campaigns to play with Mokuba in the future. It was one of the few anchors that helped him maintain a semblance of sanity during those hellish times.

After he took over Kaiba Corp he obviously didn’t have the chance to play until now. So yeah, it had been a while.

He sat down and opened the Player’s Handbook. He was pleased to find out that he still knew its contents by heart, but read a few pages anyways, enjoying the warm feeling it elicited.

He looked up if there was an online page where he could assemble his character sheet, and found one called D&D Beyond. He opened it and started looking through the options.

Maybe he could go with a fighter, they usually did well in combat. But it was too obvious and basic. That idiot Jounouchi would probably go with a fighter. That alone made Kaiba want to have nothing to do with that class.

A paladin was also a decent option, but he couldn’t settle on one race.

There was a new class that he didn’t know about, artificer. It sounded interesting.

After reading about artificers he ended up deciding it wasn’t what he wanted.

Damn, he hadn’t made a character in a while, and there was this new edition, 5e, so he had to take that into account as well.

Kaiba leaned back on his chair and rested his hands on the back of his neck, staring at the ceiling.

He stretched his back and looked at his computer again, but something on the corner of his eye caught his attention. It was his deck. He looked intently at it. He had been tuning it the previous day; he had left it upside down, so that the first card was visible. It was the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, of course.

Wait.

Kaiba had an idea.

He grinned and turned to his computer, now sure of what character he wanted to build.

* * *

“Nii-sama! Next week is Yuugi’s birthday!” Mokuba exclaimed, barging through the door, an excited grin on his face.

“I know.” Kaiba answered, without looking up.

“They’re going to play D&D!” Mokuba continued as he approached his big brother, striding through the home office.

“I know.” Kaiba still didn’t look up, but his lips turned upwards in a small smile.

“Can we go please? I mean I’m going, but can you please go too? We haven’t played D&D in so long… it’s going to be really fun! Besides, I bet Yuugi and his friends know how to make great campaigns.” He paused once he reached Kaiba’s desk and gazed at the screen over his shoulder. “Wait, are you making your character sheet?” Kaiba didn’t answer, but deepened his smile. Mokuba saw him. “Ohhhhhhhhh let me see! What class are you playing with? I think I’m gonna go with a rogue. Or maybe a bard. I’m not sure yet.” He said, putting his hand on his chin and looking upwards while in thought. He was about to continue speaking, but Kaiba leaned on the backrest of his ergonomic chair, letting Mokuba see his recently finished character sheet.

“Wow.” Mokuba stared in awe at the screen. He then turned to look at his brother. “That’s an awesome character.”

“I know.” Kaiba answered with a full smile.

* * *

Kaiba’s reply to Yuugi’s e-mail was the link to his character sheet, now saved in his D&D Beyond account, and nothing else.

He received an answer almost instantly.

****

**_Re: Re: Birthday invitation_ **

_From:_ [ _mutouyuugi@gmail.com_ ](mailto:mutouyuugi@gmail.com)

_That’s great Kaiba-kun! Thank you!_

_Atem will be the DM, so he’ll be contacting you about any modifications that may need to be made or questions that he may want to ask you._

_See you next week!_

_Yuugi._

And contact him Atem did. The good news was that they were playing with 3.5, the version of the game Kaiba knew by heart, and not 5e, the newest one, so he wouldn’t have to learn anything new. The bad news was that his character was apparently “too fucking broken and OP” and also “a level way higher than what we’re going to use, Kaiba, why didn’t you ask before?” But after a few heated e-mails, they ended up reaching an agreement and Kaiba’s character was ready. He had to admit he was quite pleased with it, even though it wasn’t the one he had originally planned. Mokuba’s character was ready too, so all that remained to do was waiting until next Friday.

* * *

Kaiba parked the car right in front of Yuugi’s house. It was 6:03 pm. He had wanted to arrive somewhat late so that they wouldn’t be the first ones there, but his need for punctuality combined with Mokuba’s excitement brought them there only three minutes late.

As soon as he turned the engine off, Mokuba exited the car, ran to the door and ringed the doorbell. Yuugi opened the door just as Kaiba was locking the car.

“Mokuba-kun! Kaiba-kun! Hi!” He said, looking at them with a kind smile.

“Hi Yuugi! Happy birthday!” Mokuba greeted him, matching his smile.

“Hello Yuugi. Happy birthday.” Said Kaiba, waving his hand as he reached the door.

“Thanks! Come in guys!” Yuugi said while stepping back in order to let them in and signaling with his hand. “We were just about to get some cookies out of the oven. I didn’t think everyone would be so punctual!” Yuugi closed the door as Kaiba and Mokuba got inside.

Kaiba glanced at the shop, which was now closed to the public, and noticed that there was a big table on the center with the board set up for the one-shot. Seated at the table were already Anzu, Honda, Jounouchi and Otogi, who were chatting amicably.

They greeted everyone, Mokuba more enthusiastically than Kaiba – Jounouchi did that thing where he clenched his fist and morphed his face into a weird grimace while groaning “Kaiba…”, and Kaiba, instead of straight up ignoring him, acknowledged him with a nod and an “ordinary duelist”, said with the most monotone voice he could muster; so he was behaving. Mokuba had warned him about that beforehand; he had claimed that even though he was glad that he was going, he had to be “civil” because “they’re our friends, Nii-sama, you can’t treat them like shit for free”, so he promised Mokuba that for every time he did so, he would have to treat his younger brother to one of those fast food restaurants he liked so much.

They seated at the table while Yuugi went to the kitchen and then came back.

“Well, we’re waiting for Bakura-kun and Shizuka-chan. Bakura-kun told me he’s on his way. Jounouchi-kun, do you know anything about Shizuka-chan?”

As if on cue, his phone started ringing before he could answer Yuugi’s question. He took it out, looked at the screen and announced that it was indeed her before getting up and answering.

A moment later, Atem appeared from the kitchen, carrying a plate full of homemade cookies. The entirety of the Yuugi-tachi cheered loudly.

“I think they came out fairly decent! They don’t look so pretty but I think they taste good enough.” Atem announced, a scowl on his face while looking intently at the plate, as if he believed that if he stared with enough intensity, they would transform into a work of art worthy of a professional baker.

“I’m sure they’re perfect Atem.” Yuugi said softly, resting his hand on Atem’s shoulder. That managed to take Atem’s eyes away from the plate, as he beamed at Yuugi.

“I sure hope so!” He said.

“Yeah, I’m sure they’re great!” Anzu claimed. Atem directed his gaze towards her and widened his smile. He then seemed to notice Kaiba and Mokuba were occupying previously empty chairs.

“Oh, Kaiba, Mokuba, hello!”

“Hi Atem!” Mokuba said, waving at him while Kaiba ‘Hn’ed and nodded at Atem.

“So, I see you’re coming around with cooking!” Honda said, resuming the previous conversation.

“Yeah, we trust him enough to leave him alone in the kitchen now. He’s proven that he’s not going to burn it down.” Yuugi laughed.

“Hey, it was one time! Those stoves are very complex machinery!” Atem tried to defend his honor, resting his hand on his hip.

Everyone laughed and started grabbing the cookies, which were indeed, not pretty, but they tasted quite good. Kaiba wasn’t going to have any but Mokuba shoved one into his hand and figured it couldn’t hurt to eat just one.

Jounouchi came back near the table, covering his phone’s speaker with his hand and sporting a serious look.

“Hey Yuugi, Shizuka has to babysit her neighbor, his parents just dropped him off at her house without notice.”

“Oh, that’s too bad.” Yuugi said, sounding a little bit disappointed. “I haven’t seen her in ages.”

“Yeah, she really wanted to come…” Jounouchi paused, looking at Yuugi and fidgeting with his feet. “So… she’s asking if maybe she can bring the kid here? He’s a bit hyperactive but he’s really sweet, and if he starts to get annoying she promises she will take care of him.”

“Oh…!” Realization dawned on Yuugi’s face, then lit up. “Yeah, sure!” Then he frowned. “Won’t his parents mind that she’s bringing him to a stranger’s house?”

“Nah, they don’t give a shit.” Jounouchi answered with a sour expression.

“In that case, sure, tell her to bring him!”

“Great! Thanks Yuugi.”

“No problem!”

Not long after that, Bakura arrived, and he brought with him more sets of dice, his own Player’s Handbook, more props for the board, and miniatures.

“Whoa, those minis look exactly like you guys!” Mokuba said when Bakura handed them to Anzu, Honda, Jounouchi and Yuugi, and kept one for himself.

“Yeah, it’s kind of a long story…” Bakura answered, rubbing the back of his neck and looking sheepish.

“I honestly admire you guys for wanting to use them again. I probably would have been too traumatized to ever see those things again.” Otogi interjected, and Honda took it upon himself to explain the current situation.

“Well, Jounouchi is still scared – shut up, you are and we all know it!” he clarified when Jounouchi tried to interrupt him, as he evaded Jounouchi’s attempt of a headlock. “But, as I was saying, we convinced him that even though there’s a good reason those minis should give us the creeps, it’s a good thing to give them a new meaning, associating new good memories to them. Besides, they played a big role in a key moment of bonding in our group, and the first time we interacted with Atem.” Everyone fell silent and stared at him. “What?”

“I didn’t… know you were, like… smart.” Otogi said, his mouth still hanging open. Kaiba was glad it was Otogi who said it out loud, since he was going to make a very similar comment that would have earned Mokuba one free meal at a fast food restaurant. He was pretty sure this was the first time he heard Honda say more than one coherent sentence.

Now it was Honda’s turn to attempt a headlock, but on Otogi. They struggled for a while until they were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell, and raced each other to the door to see who would receive Shizuka. Neither won; Jounouchi stopped them dead in their tracks by extending his arms and hitting them in their stomachs, and went himself to open the door.

While Shizuka entered and introduced the little kid – he was called Judai, Yuugi told the summary of the story to Mokuba, and therefore Kaiba, who would have never asked, but stood close so that he could hear what Yuugi was saying.

“Basically there was a Shadow Game that the evil spirit inside the Sennen Ring tricked us to play and it involved our souls being trapped in the minis. Since he wasn’t aware of Atem’s existence, he thought we would have stayed trapped forever, but Atem kept playing and with the help from Bakura-kun, we were able to defeat the BBEG and return to our bodies.”

“Rad.” Was Mokuba’s answer.

“Speaking of minis! Since Shizuka arrived, we’re all ready to go! I’m going to go fetch your miniatures.” Atem said, appearing from behind Yuugi after greeting Shizuka and Judai.

Once the characters were finished, Atem had asked them for detailed descriptions of their appearances so that he could print them with the 3D printer they had at the shop.

Atem disappeared for a while and came back with the figurines, handing them to their owners. Mokuba, Kaiba and Otogi were the only ones who had characters that didn’t look like themselves – Shizuka’s character did look like her, in addition to the already existing miniatures.

When Atem handed Kaiba his mini, the Yuugi-tachi gaped at him, and Anzu spoke, voicing what probably everyone was wondering.

“Is that…?”

“Kisara? Yes.” Kaiba answered, somewhat pleased with everyone’s reactions of surprise and confusion.

“How the fuck do you know who she is!?!?” Jounouchi exclaimed, looking like an idiot with his mouth still open and his eyes wide.

“Met her in Aaru.” Kaiba answered nonchalantly and crossed his arms.

“Oh…”

An awkward silence spread. Kaiba assumed the group avoided talking about _the afterlife_. Ironically, it was Atem who broke the silence, speaking with the most cheerful tone he could muster.

“Well, everyone’s here, there’s food… we’re all set and ready to start. Shall we begin?”

The mood was instantly brightened as everyone answered enthusiastically and Atem began describing the scenario their characters were in.

* * *

“Okay, add one d8 and then double that damage.”

“That would be… 96 points of damage.”

“WOAH. Okay, yeah, he’s dead.”

“Oops. I would feel bad about it, but he had it coming honestly.”

The whole table roars as Shizuka deals the killing blow for the last opponent left alive, therefore putting an end to the combat.

“Okay, so, uh, the guy who brought you here, who has been hiding in a corner during the combat, comes out of his hiding spot slightly trembling and speaks to you guys: ‘I-I’m s-so sorry! I-I didn’t know all these bandits were here! This road is supposed to be safe!’”

“I don’t believe you! You lead us here on purpose! You planned this! You were going to take all our money and weapons and gear and split it with them!” Otogi screams. His Tiefling Barbarian has lost all patience.

“‘T-that’s not true! It’s NOT. Please, PLEASE believe me!’ He’s trembling more and more.”

“Then why the fuck didn’t you help us? Anzu is right there unconscious! You could have helped her!”

“His face blanches and you can see he’s about to fain. ‘I-I… I d-don’t… Argh… I don’t know how to fight! Really! I would have been an obstacle for you guys! Seriously! A-and… uh… I was scared! My hands were trembling! I couldn’t have done anything useful even if I tried to!’ He puts his hands up in the air and starts walking backwards.”

Before Otogi can shout angrily at this shady NPC Kaiba speaks, fearing that if Otogi’s character continues screaming, the NPC will run away without explaining anything.

“Hey Atem, I’m all fucked up, right?”

“Well, you certainly are a pain in the ass, but you’ve improved your social skills somewhat in the past few years.” The fucker says with a straight face, and then smirks. “But yeah, uh…” he checks the laptop for his stats. “You’re still poisoned and you have… uh… two Hit Points left, right?”

Kaiba checks his sheet. “Yeah, I’m at two. Hn.” He scratches his chin and looks at Atem. “Can I do this?” He then types a text and sends it.

Atem reads Kaiba’s text, confusion written on his face; then realization dawns on him and he chuckles. “Yeah, sure. It doesn’t really work like that, but I’ll apply the Rule Of Cool. Go ahead.”

Kaiba smirks. “All right, Kisara gets up – I assume she was kneeling or something, and walks past Otogi, standing right in front of the guy.” He pauses and looks at Atem, to see if the NPC does something about it.

“Okay, he stops trembling and looks at you with fear. ‘Uh… can I… is there… Uh…’ He stumbles though his words and can’t look away from your face.”

“Right, okay. Kisara looks at him in the eyes, and she’s like, panting, and so she puts her hand on his shoulder and says ‘Kiss me’, all breathless and with the most seductive tone she can gather up.”

He instantly hears a roar and grimaces. Jounouchi, Honda, Otogi, Yuugi and Anzu are shouting at him at the same time, asking him what the fuck he’s doing. Atem snorts and has to take a minute to recompose.

“Oh my fucking – Okay, okay, he, uh…” He laughs again, barely holding it together. “He looks at you, and you see his eyes open up like saucers, all bright, and he can barely speak as he’s like ‘What!? Uh… are you… okay… is it really…? Are you sure you know what you’re doing?’ and he starts to lean in towards you; he can’t believe this is happening.”

Kaiba’s lips turns upwards and he says “Kisara leans in and right before kissing him, she casts Zone of Truth on her lip balm.”

Another roar as the others understand what his plan was all along. This time it doesn’t annoy Kaiba, it’s actually quite satisfying.

“God fucking damn it, Kaiba, you fucking demon.” Jounouchi snarls at him.

“Actually, I’m a cleric who worships the White Dragon, so ‘demon’ is quite inaccurate.” Kaiba smiles again as Jounouchi fucking jumps from his chair and points his fist at him. The gesture is barely intimidating, but even if it was, since this was about the millionth time Jounouchi has done it since the beginning of the session – 90 percent of the times directed at Kaiba, it would have stopped being so by now. Kaiba has to admit that at some point he began provoking Jounouchi on purpose to see how fast he could get him all riled up and swearing at him because he found it quite amusing. Well, that has been the case with Jounouchi for a while now, but still.

Kaiba ignores Jounouchi and looks at Atem again. He begins asking questions to the NPC, about his real intentions, why he had brought them here, and trying to get more clues about how to find and defeat the BBEG. He has little time before the spell that obligates the NPC to tell the truth wears out, so he tries to make the most of it.

After that, they patch up as best as they can from the damage the combat had left them. Even though Kaiba’s character was a cleric, he had built a rather offensive one, so healing wasn’t his forte, and they had to rely on Bakura – who had a more conventional cleric and was good at healing, and Yuugi – a druid who was also good at healing, to be in a decent shape before continuing their quest.

So far the session was going smoothly. Only Anzu had fallen unconscious during combat – she was a wizard and therefore had the lowest HP so it wasn’t really a surprise, but she didn’t have to do any saving throws because Yuugi had reached her on time and stabilized her. About three hours had passed since they started and Kaiba had a feeling they were getting close to the BBEG.

Atem’s performance as a DM surprised Kaiba, in a good way. He was far better than what he expected him to. Well, he certainly had seemed to have an idea of the game when he convinced him over their exchanged e-mails to go from a level 17 Wizard who could turn into a dragon to a level 4 cleric who worshipped the White Dragon of Light. But he hadn’t expected him to be such a good storyteller, carrying the plot effortlessly, generating tension and doing voices for the different NPCs that appeared. Atem was… enjoying this. Kaiba had half-expected him to be doing this just because he felt he had to, and treat it like an obligation. It wasn’t that he expected him to be bad at DMing, just… not this much into it.

So Atem had been serious when he said he wanted to do things for himself. He chose to be the DM because he wanted to be the DM, not because he had to be the DM. And he was doing a good fucking job of it.

Even Judai, the 7-year-old kid Jounouchi’s sister had brought was having a good time. Atem had given Judai one of the NPCs he had planned so that he could participate too, which had proven to be a good choice, since the kid behaved like he was having the time of his life.

It was like Atem’s pleasure was contagious, and everyone was having a great time. Even Kaiba – he wouldn’t admit it out loud, but it was true, he was _having fun_. This sure was a good way to come back to a game he loved so dearly.

Kaiba allowed himself a small, genuine smile, before focusing on the game again, ready to find and fuck over this damn BBEG.

* * *

Kaiba looked up from his phone and saw Atem picking up the dishes from the table. The one-shot had ended about an hour and a half ago and everyone was currently scattered, playing different games in groups from two to four. The session had ended very well and everyone was satisfied with the ending, although it had consumed most of their energy, but even if they were all tired, they wanted to keep playing games. Well, not everyone was tired. Judai was as enthusiastic as he was since the moment he arrived. That boy had an infinite power source it seemed. Kaiba had assumed that Jounouchi’s sister would be the poor soul who would have to deal with him, but the rest of the guests had taken turns playing something with Judai. Kaiba even conceded playing a chess match with him. He won, of course, but the kid had warmed up on him, so once the match was finished, he offered Judai to tell him some advice for improving, and to his surprise, the kid’s expression turned from gloomy to excitement with alarming speed while he enthusiastically nodded his head. He then proved to be a fast learner when he played against Mokuba and showed visible improvement. Mokuba won, of course, but Judai wasn’t so easily beaten. Kaiba couldn’t help feeling proud, both of his little brother for being almost as good as him at chess, and for his young disciple.

After that, he had sat on a chair next to the table and got on his phone. Interacting with Judai had been a good but exhausting experience. He thought he would get scolded by Mokuba, or dragged to play something else by a member of the Yuugi-tachi, but nobody paid him any mind.

When he saw Atem he decided his social battery was recharged enough and got up from the chair. Without a word, he started picking up the dishes too, and between the two of them they gathered everything from the table and carried it to the kitchen.

“Thanks.” Atem said as they put all the dishes on the sink.

“No problem.” Kaiba answered. Atem leaned against the counter and gave him a tired smile; his heart clenched a bit as he mirrored Atem’s position. “Aren’t you going to wash that?”

“Nah, that’s a problem for future Atem.”

“Hn. Seems like he’s going to hate you tomorrow morning.” Atem let out a frustrated groan. “I could… wash them now. If you want.”

“Oh, no, it’s alright. Future me won’t mind.” Kaiba looked at him raising an eyebrow and Atem held his gaze a few seconds before putting up his hands in surrender. “Okay, yes, he will mind, but you’re our guest, it’s rude to ask you to wash the dishes.” Kaiba scoffed.

“It’s not rude if I’m the one offering to do it.” He said while turning around and grabbing the sponge and detergent. Atem looked like he was going to continue arguing but then changed his mind and gazed at him with the same tired smile that managed to make Kaiba’s heart clench _again_.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

They stayed in comfortable silence while Kaiba washed and rinsed the dishes, and Atem began drying them and stowing them where they belonged.

“Did you like the one-shot?” Atem was the first one to break the silence.

“Yes.” Atem nodded but didn’t make a follow-up question. It looked like it was Kaiba’s turn to carry the conversation. “Your first time being DM?”

“Kinda.”

“Oh?”

“I mean, when I was sharing a body with Yuugi he sometimes told me what he was planning for a campaign. There was one time his father was here for a couple of weeks and Yuugi made a one-shot to play with his parents and grandfather. I watched closely. It was a good one-shot. Yuugi is a good DM.” He paused. “Then when I came back we were talking one day about D&D and how it would be cool to start a campaign with our friends and I mentioned to him that I would like to try DMing, so we did a couple of short ‘sessions’ just the two of us where I was the DM, so I could get a feeling around it.”

“Hn. So this was your first time being DM in a session with more people other than just Yuugi.”

“Yeah.”

“Congratulations.” Kaiba said, looking at Atem. “You did well.” He saw something fleeting through Atem’s expression, but it was too fast for him to identify what it was.

“Thanks.” Atem said, a little quieter this time. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. I sure did.”

“I’m glad too.” He shook his hands to dry them after rinsing the last dish. “Are you going to play some other game now?”

“Uh… I don’t think so. I’m really tired.” He stowed the dish Kaiba had rinsed. “Ugh, I kinda want to go to sleep, but I don’t want to bail on Yuugi.” He looked at Kaiba with an apologetic expression.

“I don’t think he will mind” Kaiba answered, looking past the kitchen door into the shop. “He seems pretty absorbed in that Carcassonne match.”

“Yeah, I know, but if he looks for me later I want to be there, not upstairs, sleeping in my room.”

“Fair enough.”

“I know!” Atem’s face lit up. “We could go sit on the couch!”

“Sure.” Kaiba said, deciding to not point out that Atem assumed that he didn’t want to keep playing games and wanted to continue talking with him instead. It would be annoying telling him that he was right.

They exited the kitchen and sat down on the couch. Why there was a couch on a game shop, it was beyond Kaiba.

“So.” Once again, Atem was the first to speak. “How have you been?”

“Good. Same as always. Lots of work.” Atem nodded and silence fell again. Judai ran past them, grabbed a game on a shelf and brought it to Bakura. “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but we’re working on opening a dueling school.”

“No, I haven’t heard! That’s great, Kaiba!”

“Yeah. We’re almost done with the permits and legal bullshit. We’re starting to look for a place to build it. Once we find it we’ll have to deal with more legal crap.” He heard Atem bite back a laugh. “Glad to know that my suffering is at least entertaining to someone else.” Kaiba deadpanned.

“Sorry, I always find it amusing how everyone hates Law and bureaucracy.” He said, covering his mouth with his hand, but mirth evident in his eyes.

“Yeah, it’s always a pain in the ass.” A pause. “What about you?” Atem looked up at him, confused. “How have you been?”

“Oh, yeah, right, that.” He pondered on the question for a few seconds. “Adapting. Everything is so different, obviously. I know I saw and lived in this world when Yuugi and I were sharing a body, but experiencing it all by myself… I know I’ve only been here for like, three months, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it.”

“Hn.”

“I don’t regret it though. I’m fairly certain this was a good choice.”

“Well, I’m glad.”

“Yeah…” Atem put his hand on Kaiba’s shoulder and looked intently at him. Kaiba held his gaze. “Thank you again, Kaiba.”

“Don’t mention it. It was nothing.”

“Don’t say that!” Atem exclaimed, indignant. “I really can’t thank you enough.” Kaiba scoffed and looked away. The part of his shoulder where Atem’s hand was still resting was warmer than the rest of his body.

“Kaiba…”

“Atem.” He deadpanned, looking at Atem in the eye again and he felt his hand retracting from his shoulder, now leaving that patch of skin colder than the rest of his body.

“I don’t know why you refuse to let me thank you, but I will keep doing so anyways.”

“Fine. Do as you wish.” Kaiba grunted, crossing his arms, closing his eyes and laying his head on the backrest of the couch.

“It’s not just the fact that you literally managed to bring me back from Aaru, and took care of all the ‘legal bullshit’ – ” Kaiba felt movement next to him; was he doing actual air quotes? What a nerd. “– so that I could exist without any major inconveniences. You’re Kaiba Seto, you can do whatever the fuck you want; if there was any doubt of it, you completely obliterated it when you _traveled to a different dimension_ just to have one more duel with me.” Atem was getting more and more intense and Kaiba started feeling uncomfortable in such a careless position. Not that he would do anything about it, he wouldn’t admit defeat to Atem so easily. “It was how you inspired me to do what _I_ wanted for once. Not what someone else tells me to do.”

“I believe you said this to me already.” He interjected. Not that he minded hearing Atem saying this to him again. In fact, he wouldn’t mind having a recording of Atem saying this and listening to it 24/7. His heart was beating as fast as it did the first time he heard it, the second time he went to Aaru and Atem received him with the news that he wanted Kaiba to bring him back.

“I know, and I will keep saying it as many times as I feel are necessary.” Good. “So yeah. Thank you for being a stubborn little shit and helping me become my own person.”

“You’re welcome.” Kaiba deadpanned. “Are you done?” He heard a frustrated sigh from Atem.

“Yes.”

“Hn.”

Atem stayed quiet and so did Kaiba. There was some tension left in the air, so Kaiba decided to give in and speak first for a change.

“We should duel sometime.” He said, opening his eyes and rolling his head towards Atem’s direction. He was mirroring his position, arms crossed and head against the backrest, looking the other way.

“Yeah…” He said, dragging the word. He then started giggling.

“What?”

“Nothing, just…” He looked at Kaiba, smirking. “Your way of asking me is way more polite now.”

Kaiba rolled his eyes.

“Well, it’s much easier to duel you now. You’re not running around trying to save your friends or in another fucking dimension. Now you can just come to KC HQ and that’s it.”

“You promise there won’t be any more Solid Vision Coliseums involved?”

“Of course.” Atem narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “I already did Solid Vision Coliseum. I won’t repeat myself. Who do you think I am? Some basic bitch? Next time I’ll think of a better setting.”

“Of course you will.” Atem chuckled softly and uncrossed his arms. Kaiba followed his example. They had gotten closer at some point. Their shoulders were almost touching now.

“I’m surprised you haven’t challenged me to a duel since you brought me back.” Atem said. Kaiba tensed slightly.

“Been busy with work.”

“You’re here though.” Atem said slowly, looking intently at him.

“Yes, so?”

“You have enough time to come to Yuugi’s birthday party.”

“Your point being?”

“It’s been going on for more than seven hours, surely you could have spared about two hours for a duel in these past few months.”

“I’ve been very busy.” Kaiba repeated. “You know, with the dueling school and all.”

“So today you weren’t as busy?”

“Exactly.”

“Uh-huh.” Atem’s tone was teasing. Kaiba scoffed and rolled his eyes in frustration, unwilling to continue this ridiculous conversation.

Silence fell again. Their shoulders were fully touching now. The area of contact was warm again.

“I’m glad you came, by the way.” Atem spoke in a hushed voice, watching the rest of the guests. “Yuugi was hoping you would.”

“I don’t know why though. Why he invited me. And why he did the first time. And I don’t understand why he keeps doing it.”

“Why wouldn’t he?” Atem asked, turning his face to him, confused.

“Because I’m not exactly… likable. Bearable, even. I know you guys don’t tolerate me. And I don’t mind; I have my priorities clear, and socializing is very low on the list. So I don’t understand why you guys keep treating me like I’m your _friend_.” Fuck, why was he sounding so upset about this?

“Because you _are_ our friend.” Kaiba scoffed. “You’re not as mean as you think you are, you know?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you act like you’re this unlikable person who doesn’t deserve to be treated like a human being because you supposedly don’t treat others like human beings. I mean, you can be a pain in the ass, and you have a… _strong_ personality, but you have a heart. And you don’t do a very good job of hiding it. The person you claim to be wouldn’t have played chess with Judai and then explained to him what mistakes he made and how he can be better with the patience and affection you did.” So Atem had been watching. Huh. “So yeah, you’re our friend and we like you. Deal with it.”

Kaiba was rendered speechless. He thought about how he could argue, but not only did he not know how to refute what Atem had just said, he didn’t _want_ to.

Atem yawned, stretching his arms, and then rested his head on Kaiba’s shoulder. Kaiba contemplated following his example and resting his head on Atem’s, but he remembered he still had to drive back home, and if he started relaxing, he would be too tired to drive safely.

“I should get going.” He announced softly. Atem lifted his head from his shoulder and Kaiba didn’t have much time to mourn the loss. He saw Atem’s expression and felt as if he had been stabbed. Multiple times. He wasn’t quite sure why, he couldn’t discern the exact emotion he was seeing there, but it looked like a fusion of sadness, disappointment and something else.

“Oh… okay.”

“I won’t be able to drive safely due to tiredness if I stay much longer.” He didn’t _have_ to explain himself, but the troubling look into Atem’s eyes turned into something more akin to understanding, so it was worth it, Kaiba supposed.

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Atem said, but he didn’t get up. Neither did Kaiba. “You could… stay. If you want.” Was he… blushing? With his dark tone of skin, it was hard to tell. “I mean, the rest probably will, so it’s okay, you know. In case you’re already too tired to drive.”

Kaiba considered it for a moment. It was tempting, but…

“No, thanks.” Shit. That look again. “I… have trouble sleeping. Especially when I sleep somewhere other than my bed. And, uh… I would rather seize the chance at a good night’s sleep.” The explanation worked again; Atem’s look softened considerably, but he still looked a bit disappointed. “Mokuba will probably take you on that offer.” He said, and glanced around to see, indeed, Mokuba sitting on a chair with his arms crossed over the table, his head resting on them. “So you’ll have a Kaiba sleeping under your roof.” Atem gave him a small smile.

“Okay, I’ll open the door for you then.” He said as he got up.

Kaiba followed him and went to grab his backpack he had left on his chair. When he walked past Mokuba he shook his shoulder lightly, gently stirring him awake.

“Mmmmhhh?” Mokuba said.

“I’m going home, you coming with me or do you want to stay the night here?”

“Stay…” He mumbled.

“Okay. Text me when you wake up and I’ll come pick you up. If that happens before midday we can have lunch at the Burger World near here.” That caught Mokuba’s interest, evidently, since he sounded much more awake when he spoke again.

“Really!? But you behaved!”

“I know, but still.”

“You’re the best, Nii-sama!” Mokuba exclaimed, hugging him while still sitting on the chair.

“I know.” Kaiba said, returning the hug. “All right, bye, see you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight!”

Kaiba grabbed his backpack and noticed the miniature he had used was still on the table and he took it. After saying goodbye to Yuugi and the rest of the guests, he stalked towards the door, where Atem was waiting for him, a hand over the doorknob.

“Hey, do you mind if I keep this?” Kaiba asked, showing him the Kisara figurine.

“Oh no, by all means. I intended for y’all to keep them. They’re your characters after all.”

“Hn. Thanks.” Kaiba said, putting the figurine inside a pocket of his backpack. “They’re very good, by the way; did the 3D printer go easy on you?”

“Uh… Actually, I had to ask Sugoroku for help.” He said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck and looking at a spot in the floor next to Kaiba’s left foot. Kaiba snorted. “Hey, those things are complicated you know! We didn’t have anything like it back in Ancient Egypt!”

“Oh I know, but that doesn’t change the fact that you had to ask Yuugi’s _grandfather_ for help.”

“Well, he’s the owner of the game shop! He’s a wise man!”

“An _old_ man.”

Atem rolled his eyes and opened the door. “Goodnight, Kaiba.” He deadpanned.

“I’ll text you to coordinate for a duel.” Kaiba answered, tone slightly taunting.

“Cool.” Atem snapped, still not looking at him.

Kaiba walked towards the doorframe and stopped there. He stared at Atem until they made eye contact. A few seconds passed, and then he leaned down just as Atem was starting to lean upwards. They met in the middle, Kaiba’s hand resting on Atem’s hip as Atem’s hand slipped into his hair.

At first they kissed slowly, experimentally; barely opening their mouths. Still, Kaiba could feel as if his whole body was aflame. And then Atem opened his lips just a little bit more, causing Kaiba to hunker down slightly more, applying just enough pressure to make the intensity of the kiss grow exponentially. When they parted, both panting faintly, their faces stayed close to each other; Atem’s hand slid from Kaiba’s hair to his neck as he opened his eyes. His expression was something akin to relief; he wasn’t smiling but he still seemed happy, comfortable.

Kaiba closed the distance one more time, a quick peck, and whispered a “Goodnight, Atem.” He caressed Atem’s side before slowly rising again to his full height and turning around. He walked the few meters that separated him from his car feeling like he was floating. He unlocked it, got inside and started driving.

It occurred to him, as he was almost by his house, that Atem had offered him to stay because he had _wanted_ him to _stay_. Shit. The realization was almost enough to make him turn around and go back to his house. Would they have fucked if he had stayed? Possibly. Damn. Now he really wanted to go back.

Exercising a great amount of self control, he drove the rest of the way to his house, parked, got off the car and headed to his bedroom. They had time to fuck. They could do it when they were both with more energy, and not in the house where Atem lived in with Yuugi, Yuugi’s mom and Yuugi’s grandfather, currently housing the rest of the Yuugi-tachi.

Kaiba made a mental note to text Atem as soon as he woke up and immediately fell asleep, having what probably was the best night’s sleep he got in a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> Yoooooooooo I hope you liked it!
> 
> I was originally going to go with the prompts A3/B22 but I couldn't settle on a setting that I felt comfortable with (Post-DSoD? Post Battle City? During Battle City? Atem-wins-the-Ceremonial-Duel-and-stays AU?) and then it occured to me! Yuugi's birthday Post-DSoD with D&D! But then that combination of prompts fitted so well with roleplaying! So I figured that since I cheated with A3/B22 I might as well fit in A10/B7 too.
> 
>   
> Things that I wanted to include but couldn't fit:
> 
> -Smut. I really wanted to add some banging but it would have been stretching it too much. It is very likely that I'll write a sequel for this purpose tho, they deserve to do the do.
> 
> -Yuugi's present! Kaiba and Mokuba didn't go empty handed! They gave him a chip with a Solid Vision set of dice that he can also insert on his Duel Disk. He can also custom them however he likes.
> 
> Just a funny little clarification, when Kaiba greets Jou he totally calls him "bonkotsu", but even though I indulged myself with some Japanese words, I felt like that was too much, so I sticked to the English translation ("ordinary duelist").
> 
> I would like to thank my wonderful super special awesome beta, assasinduckie, who I love dearly, and helped me a lot with making this fic decent enough for posting <3
> 
> Happy Valentine's Day!


End file.
